


You Know

by HYPERFocused



Category: Smallville
Genre: First Time, Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-10-16
Updated: 2004-10-16
Packaged: 2017-11-01 08:34:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/354450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HYPERFocused/pseuds/HYPERFocused
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark thinks he might be. you know. Lex hopes so too. Written using Rose_Emily's nine first lines, and request for a haiku ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Know

## You Know

by HYPERFocused

<http://members.aol.com/hyperfocused>

* * *

Lex comes home from work and finds Clark sitting on the couch, looking worried. It's not unusual to have Clark waiting for him, he's never been too concerned with boundaries where Lex and his home are concerned, though he's tighter than a drum about his own concerns. Someday, Lex hopes, that will change. Lex would willingly give Clark everything, if only Clark will share more of himself. 

"I think I like opera." 

"Since when? I seem to remember you falling asleep when I took you to La Boheme that one time." Clark had snored loud enough for the principal players to stop singing and glare at him, until Lex had shook him awake. The fact that Clark's sleepy, befuddled face had made Lex's heart twist up with affection was neither here nor there. He'd fallen asleep on Lex's shoulder, which also wasn't something to cause Lex complaint. 

A six-figure donation to the Metropolis Opera Company had been the only thing to assuage Lex's embarrassment. It was a month of pizza and movie dates at the mansion after that. Not that Lex told Clark they were dates, and they certainly didn't end the way Lex's dates usually did. Actually, Lex rarely dated. He had business assignations that ended with sex. And sometimes ill-advised trysts that needed several PR people to cover up. 

This was different. Clark was his good young friend, and Lex wasn't about to corrupt him -- until Clark begged him to, that is. 

"Okay, well, I don't mean that I actually like opera. It's more a metaphor. I mean I think I'm the kind of person who does. You know, the kind of person who likes show tunes, and has a good fashion sense and makes guys uncomfortable in the locker room?" 

"Trust me, Clark, your fashion sense leaves much to be desired. But that doesn't mean anything, anyway. I've known plenty of gay men who were horrible dressers. That is what you were trying to say, isn't it?" As for the locker room, Lex would bet it was jealousy that made Clark's classmates uncomfortable. Whatever god had designed his friend had been very, very generious, Lex could tell. Even someone who hadn't applied himself or herself to the detailed analysis of Clark like Lex had done could figure that out. 

Clark blushed, but didn't deny it. "I think I might be -- you know." 

"Gay? It's not a dirty word. Besides, you're most likely bisexual, unless all that drama with Lana was just a smokescreen." 

"No, I liked Lana. It's just that I realized when I thought about her, I imagined taking her to dances. Making her feel loved, taking away her pain." 

"That's noble." 

"But when I thought about -- someone else, I thought about -- other stuff." Clark didn't say who, or what, but the bright flash of heat in his eyes when he looked up at Lex let Lex know exactly who he meant. 

"I understand, Clark. You don't quite know how this has happened to you, do you? Your parents want you to be 'normal', but they have no idea what normal means for you at all. Clark, the world is a lot bigger than you think, and your place in it isn't defined by what Jonathan and Martha Kent think." 

"That's it exactly. And I'm not sure if this person feels the same way about me. He's dropped hints -- he flirts with me (at least I think that's what he's doiing), and he's definitely interested. But there could be other reasons for his interest. It might not be the same way I'm interested in him." 

"You haven't said anything to him yet, have you? This mystery person. But I'm fairly certain he'd understand. I bet he'd appreciate just knowing the truth. If you care about someone, honesty is a risk worth taking. You'll know if he's worth telling." Lex wasn't just talking about Clark's newly realized sexuality. He hoped Clark would figure that out, and stop his prevaricating. 

"Are you sure? I mean, would he be upset if I asked him out on a real date? Not just DVDs and pizza delivery at his house. Would he still want to be my friend, too, if I wanted more?" 

"Why don't you ask him?" Lex couldn't help smiling. 

"I thought I was." 

"Clark, if you want this to be a real date, you should plan something. Tell your companion when to be ready, and what kind preparations to make. Casual, dressy?" 

"All right." There was a pause while Clark got himself together. Still, he looked frightened as he said, "Lex, would you like to go out to dinner with me tomorrow night? We could go to that new fondue place in Grandville." 

"Can you afford -- " Lex started to say, but then stopped himself. This was Clark's idea, and Lex didn't want to embarrass him with reminders of the differences in their means. "I'd love that, Clark. Maybe afterwards we could go back to the mansion and watch one of the new movies that came in today." Lex thought this was a good solution for the money issue. 

"I've got enough saved from running errands to take you to the local theater." 

"I'm sure you do, Clark. But if we went to the theater, I couldn't do this." Lex picked up Clark's hand, threading their fingers together. Clark's hand were huge, and impossibly warm. "And I certainly could't do this." Lex turned his head just as Clark did, their lips meeting for the second time. The first time as a real kiss, not 'the kiss of life." Though if anyone asked Lex at that moment, it felt just as meaningful. "Much as I'd like to do that out in the open with you, we both know that can't happen yet." 

If anything major went down at LexCorp in the next twenty-four hours, Lex hoped Gabe had taken care of it. Lex himself had been preoccupied thinking about the night to come. Of course he still did his job with his usual attention, but he'd be hard pressed to remember what he'd discussed on his conference calls the moment he hung up the phone. Even his father's pronouncement of Lex's failings as a son had no affect on him. Who cared that Lionel thought he was the ruin of the Luthor name. No matter that they were this close to losing their shirts on a deal that went bad -- they'd figure it all out. Clark was finally getting with the program, and asking him out. Lex hadn't felt this way about a date since he was in college. Not even when he thought he'd been in love, and about to be married. 

Lex couldn't believe what he saw when he found Clark waiting at the door for him when he got home. He was wearing black jeans that looked nothing like his usual style, a grey suit jacket that looked like it had been in a fight with a seam ripper, and lost, and a red mesh -- mesh-- shirt that Lex was pretty sure was a tank top. It was such an un-Clark like outfit that Lex could barely refrain from laughing. 

"You," said Lex, the minute he came in the door that night, "are a huge goddamn cliche." 

"I am? I thought you'd like it. Doesn't it make me look, you know?" 

"Like an explosion of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fashion tips?" 

"How did you know?" Clark beamed. "Bravo had a marathon last night, and I tried to adapt some of my old clothes to fit. Got the jeans at the thrift shop. My mom might be a little upset about the jacket, but it doesn't really fit anymore for church." 

"Clark, don't you know by now that I like you just the way you are? You don't have to pretend to be a fashion maven for me. " Lex liked Clark Kent-- fashion victim just fine. 

"I'll remember that for next time, then." Clark told him. "I told my folks you'd invited me to stay over. We're watching a Lord of the Rings marathon. That's okay, isn't it? I mean, I can always say you got called away for some business thing if you decide you want me to go home." 

"And you think they'll believe that?" 

"Lex, they know you're a movie geek. Yes, they'll believe it. And you get called away on business all the time." 

"If it was up to me, you'd never leave." Lex said, stretching up to kiss Clark. As was typical whenever Lex and Clark went anywhere, dinner did not go off without a hitch. The first time it happened, it really did sound like a gunshot. Apparently Clark thought so too, as he threw himself on top of Lex until they figured out it had been some sort of a kitchen mishap. Lex had chocolate ganache all over his chest by the time Clark got off of him. He didn't care in the least, especially when Clark dipped a finger in it, and licked it off with a "Yum. Sorry about that, Lex." 

Lex wasn't sorry at all. He was just sorry it was half an hour til they got to the mansion. His patience had about run out. "No, Clark. I should be thanking you. If that had been an actual bullet, and not a grease fire in the kitchen, I'm sure I'd owe you my life - again." 

"Don't worry about it, Lex. You know I"d never let anything happen to you. Can we go now?" Clark got up, digging into his pants for his wallet. 

"I don't think they're going to charge us, not after that." Lex told him. Hell, they'd be lucky to stay open. It hadn't been that good a meal, anyway. 

He doesn't take marathon showers, not really. Buf after the workout Clark gave him, Lex is sore. A happy kind of pain, but pain none-the-less. The relief Clark must have felt, being able to finally be honest with Lex about everything made him let go. No more the inhibited farmboy, Clark was unstoppable. Not that Lex wanted to stop him. 

They'd talked long into the night, Clark's lips loosening over a bottle of Apple brandy Lex had found in the back of his liquor cabinet (and tightening around Lex's cock after their confessions had been voiced.) 

There was a reason he hadn't drunk that particular brandy. Lex was almost certain that he'd never been both this hung over and this insanely happy at the same time. It was well worth the discomfort. 

Clark was still out like a light, curled adorably around Lex. Lex groaned a little, and eased out from Clark's embrace. "I don't do this," he said quietly to himself. He didn't. And the fact that he so obviously was doing this -- falling in love after all the lies and secrets and miscommunications scared him half to death. 

"Mmmff. " Clark replied, pulling Lex close again. "Loveyoutoo." 

It was warm in the apartment when Clark got up. Lex was still in the shower, dawdling a little and hoping Clark would join him. A break in the steam, and he was not disappointed. 

Clark had long since left for the farm when Lex found the scribbled note under his pillow. Apparently Clark had more of an affinity for poetry than he thought. 

"If anyone asks:  
chocolate and brandy taste  
better on your lips." 


End file.
